Thursday, 23 February 2012

Book Review: My Soul to Take - Rachel Vincent

"She doesn't see dead people. She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next."

My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent is the first book in the series, but there is a prequel, My Soul to Lose, that takes place before it. But readers don't need to have read the prequel to understand what's going on, but can if they're either fans of the series/author of if they wanted a bigger understanding of the characters.

I'm re-reading this series for the Soul Screamers Challenge that Fiktshun has set up, but I really do love this series, which is why I jumped at the chance to re-read them (which I normally wanted to do, but didn't due to the lack of time).

Kaylee Cavanaugh seems like an average teenage girl who wants to be noticed by boys, have fun with friends and live a normal life, but it turns out that she's anything but normal. After entering a bar with the help of connections, she is pleasantly surprised to get a chance to talk to the most popular boy in school, Nash Hudson, who seems strangely interested in her, despite her lack of social status. However, just as she was enjoying this strange turn of events, Kaylee suddenly gets a premonition of a girl who she thought was going to die. From there, everything goes past the definition of "normal".

I have to say that the characters in this first novel are some of the best of the whole series. Kaylee, who is stronger than she appears, is a good-hearted character who would risk her own life to save the lives of others. I also loved how cautious she was of Nash in the beginning, because she thought that he was merely trying to get something out of her besides friendship and it took a while before she could trust him. Nash, is an incredibly sweet and charming character who is kind of like rock to anchor Kaylee, especially when she thought that she was slowly losing her mind. He was also the one who told her the truth when no one else had, knowing that being kept from it was more damaging than the reality. One character that annoys me to no end is Kaylee's selfish cousin, Sophie, who believes that Kaylee is an attention-hogger and is out to ruin her social life, but I find her character welcoming since there's always a foil for each character and she is Kaylee's. Lastly, Tod... oh my god. Tod is an unbelievably amazing character who is very very likely to tug at your heart. I really enjoyed reading his charm and wits, which is very different from Nash's seriousness. Initially, he was merely a curious character, but his involvement grows as the story goes on. Despite being dead and being a grim reaper, his almost boyish attitude and vulnerability caught me and I learned to love him a lot.

It started out slowly enough, but that didn't last for long. I really enjoyed the twists and turns that Rachel puts us through. And the dramatic irony, since we all knew that Kaylee wasn't normal, but it was a pleasant surprise to see how Rachel revealed the truth of Kaylee being a bean sidhe through the words of Nash, which allowed Kaylee to put her trust in him. Lastly, I loved how they resolved their problems in the end, but Rachel left just enough to leave you hanging on for more.

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A university student who is in the kinesiology field but is not an athlete. Outside of school, I love to create fun crafts, write fanfiction and daydream. Not to mention reading books and drinking various types of coffees! Can't live without those.